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Monday, July 23, 2012

It's Monday! Reading, reading, reading...

It's Monnnnnday! What are you reading??? Hosted by Sheila over at BookJourney.

I finished up Shadow of Night last week. And boy, am I gonna have a review of that one coming up. Probably tomorrow, in fact. It wasn't all love, but it wasn't all blah either.

I'm reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh now. I hadn't particularly expected to like this book, but so far I'm really enjoying it. The protagonist is an 18-year-old girl, Victoria, who's newly on her own in the world after being released from a group home when she timed out of the system. Now she has to figure out what to do with herself and that involves flowers. And someone she loved taught her the language of flowers.

I don't like young, tortured protagonists, generally. I've read so many coming-of-age books and troubled teen books that I generally find them repetitive and formulaic. However, the addition of the "language of flower" helps add some interest to this one. I had never heard of the language of flowers. If you're as new to this as I am, check out a definition:

The language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, was a Victorian-era means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages, allowing individuals to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken.

Pretty cool! Now I'll be "eyeing" the flower arrangements in Victorian TV shows and novels.

Click to embiggen.

I also usually don't like shifting narrative perspectives and time periods. This one jumps back and forth between Victoria's present and her past, helping to explain why she is the way she is. It's remarkably successful in this book.

The good news is that this is my first read for a new-to-me book club. I will be joining Trishand the lovely ladies ofGirls Night Out Book Club at a Real Bookstore on Thursday night to discuss this one.

Finally, I'm already mentally gearing up for the upcoming North and South readalong!!!! Heather and I are already lining up some SWAG for participants to win over the course of the readalong. And I have to say, I think the grand prize is going to be pretty kickass. You should really join us if you're still waffling.

I LOVED The Language of Flowers so much, and am glad that you are getting the chance to experience it. I am also anxiously awaiting my time to listen to Shadow of Night, but I am still in the middle of Wolf Hall, so that may take some time. I am considering joining the North and South readalong, but I am so bad at those, and I am afraid to fail. I think I will just go ahead and get the book, just in case!